The Realities of War
by Switish
Summary: Shepard is not the only one fighting Reapers. Following the story of a N7 vanguard and her unlikely squad, they must battle against an unstoppable enemy and protect those they swore and oath to. But nothing is ever that simple. Featuring the multiplayer characters in an account of their heroics during the Invasion of the Reapers. Rated T for now. (Redone)


_I apologize in advance for any spelling errors, word or sentence structure that may not fit,as this is probably my first proper fan fic. This story has been re-written, as I felt it was lacking. Also the protagonist has changed from male to female. Set in ME3, this tale follows the heroics of the multiplayer characters. Title courtesy of the nursery rhyme. Feedback is always welcome. (Chapter has been re-edited again due to timelines not fitting correctly, sorry for any confusion!)_

Warning: Chapter contains poker. Mild swearing.

* * *

**London's Burning**

Earth- UK – 10 hours remaining

The shipping yards of East India were busy as usual; blue hues of engines burned within the sky as ships descended to dock within the port, cranes lifting goods and supplies to already rested cruisers, freighters and personal craft. The London docks were particularly busy today as it was filled with a large number of people, mostly humans since Earth wasn't a high attraction to other sentient races across the galaxy due to their distrust of other species. Even though Humanity had made many advances within the galactic stage in thirty years of appearing, most people were still highly suspicious of aliens and eyed the occasional asari or turian within the crowd with careful regard.

Shades of white and blue dotted the bays of the shipping yards, as the Alliance had sent the Fourth Fleet for its regular check over. Sparks and sounds of drilling filled the air, loud laughter from Marines and Naval officers echoed off the walls. The SSV Jakarta had landed a couple of hours prior to the fleet's arrival, recuperating from a three month patrol in the Terminus Systems, warding off angry Batarian raiders after the Bahak incident. The vessel had been grounded for a week due to repairs, much to Captain Jeridin's distaste.

The woman stood tall on the platform of the command deck, ashen grey hair tied tightly into a bun behind her head, while her olive eyes looked out of the observation window. Her gaze shifted through the bustling crowds of dock workers and pilots as she folded her arms and sighed. Despite the crew's rather large enthusiasm of getting some down time away from the cruiser, she herself had not been looking forward to it. The encounters with Batarian forces had been messy, despite the Alliance's interest in keeping peace between the two races; there had been several attempts by raiders to attack or abduct human colonies in retaliation for losing one of their systems, luckily however these attacks had subsided towards the end of their assignment. She had not known the full details as to the reason why they were harbouring more violence than usual towards humans specifically but she knew enough was at stake for the Alliance to send several cruisers to defend colonies within the systems. She also knew that there was going to be enough red tape attached to these incidents that would tie her hands together in several knots. And that included paper work, lots and lots of paper work.

_Politics_. She scoffed.

Moving away from the observation area on the command deck, she went in search of the ship's engineer. A skeleton crew had remained behind while the rest had gone for shore leave, looking over the ships general well fair and starting repairs to its hull. A couple of crew members passed Jeridin in hurried strides, quickly addressing "Captain" before continuing about their business. She nodded acknowledgement in return. Tapping her Omni-tool she sent a request for engineering to be ready to update her on the ships status. The Jakarta had four main decks: the command deck, crew deck, engineering; holding several shuttles for transport purposes and medical facility which included the training area as was the standard layout in any ship excluding carriers. Heading towards the elevator, she pressed the button for engineering standing with her posture straight and shoulders squared.

Exiting onto the deck, she was greeted with heated humidity emitting from the ships drive core. Back when she had first started serving on Alliance cruisers, ship's ezo cores were exposed, which would light the deck in a soft blue. She had always thought it a beautiful sight seeing the way the core would softly rotate around a bright mass of glowing energy. But with recent events, it was standard protocol for their drives to be encased in protective metal casing as a newly added safety in the case of a meltdown. She thought it was rather idiotic considering the ship would be doomed if that were the case but understood it would probably give the crew members from that deck a chance to evacuate without being vaporised.

The chief engineer noticed her as she exited and pulled a quick salute. Heading towards him she stated "At ease Orin." Smiling she added "There's no need to be quite so formal; we are technically on shore leave now." The man relaxed, tapping his Omni-tool while looking at some quick scans then forwarded them to Jeridin's Omni and closed his own.

"Ma'am I understand you wanted an update on the ships core?" His tone had a heavy Russian accent to it.

The Captain nodded in response "As you may remember we suffered some minor issues when one of those idiots decided to ram us with a shuttle."

"Yes, I didn't see the damage on the hull but the results show the rear thrusters are probably damaged. However despite that, the core seems fairly stable… Though I would suggest we take a couple of days to run a full check and replace the element-zero injector. Other than that all engines, coolers and thrusters; except the one that got hit by that Batarian, are all working at optimal capacity. Shields and weapon systems are operational and stable. I have sent you the full details to your Omni; they include some minor issues like the plasma burns on the hull but nothing we can't sort out within a day. Everything looks fairly positive." He finished placing his hands behind his back.

Jeridin let out a sigh of relief "Good. Your skills are exceptional as always. Let me know when the repairs are finished and then you can have some time off the ship."

Orin straightened. "Will you be coming with us ma'am? I haven't seen you leave the ship properly in at least a year."

Jeridin looked rather startled at the sudden question but quickly composed herself. "Let just say there are perks to being in command of a ship, but also rather large drawbacks, unfortunately I will not be joining you. The only time I will be off the ship is when addressing the Alliance board." The chief engineer looked puzzled. She shook her head "Do not concern yourself Orin. Just enjoy the time you have off. I expect to hear from you soon."

With that she turned and headed towards the elevator. If they were lucky, they might be able to shorten the ground time when the core was sorted out. May be she would also be lucky enough to avoid the red tape meetings with the Board before they were assigned their next mission.

_Lucky? _She chuckled to herself _Is there such a thing as luck?_

* * *

UK- Royal London Barracks – 1 hour remaining

Major Lin Davis sat at the lounge table in the London Barracks, aqua eyes concentrating intently on the cards she held in her hand. Coughing once she stated "Raise" before placing some chips on the already large pile in the centre. The tanned man next to her chuckled, inhaling a long breath from his cigarette then tossed it to the floor, crushing it with his boot. "Call" he smiled. Lieutenant Aleen Mallory rolled her eyes at the two and drew another card out of the deck. Two Jacks, Two Kings and an Ace were now on the table. The rest of Davis's squad; Private Dunes and Corporal Rovesh watched in silence at the two, slight smiles plastered on their faces as the higher ranking officers continued to play poker. Sargent Miller scratched the stubble on his chin and drew out another cig, checking his hand. King and an Ace. He was stone faced as blond-haired Major eyed her competitor over. Davis then proceeded to put the rest of her chips on the pile. Miller chuckled again "I think your trying to rob me in broad daylight Major!" Granted they were not really true chips of value.

"Perhaps." Came the simple answer.

Shaking his head Miller also proceeded to place the rest of the chips in the pile. _If only they were actually at a casino now_ He thought. Mallory huffed with boredom.

"Thank God it's almost over" she stated, gaining two glares from across the table. "Show your hands then."

"Awwww Mallory, your no fun!" Private Dunes piped up.

Another eye roll.

Miller revealed his King and Ace with a massive smile, expecting Davis to be outplayed. But his gut sunk when a sly grin spread across her lips. _Oh shit…Not again.. _She placed her hand down on the table, revealing two Jacks and began to chuckle at the utter horror across Miller's face. Everyone laughted at the revelation, as usual Davis had won, and Miller's pride had been hurt… again. The Sargent muttered angrily in Afrikaans.

"_Ek gee nie 'n fok nie!"_

"Insubordination, Sargent?" Davis chuckled darkly.

"No ma'am, just appealing to my self-pride." Davis continued to smile as the man sorted the cards out within the deck, placing the chips and pack back in the box they came from. Stretching after their long game play and tying up her mouse blond hair in a ponytail, Lin took a long drink of her beverage and looked at the Lieutenant.

"Everything alright Aleen?" She looked at her friend with concern.

Aleen and her had gone to the same military college in Canary Warf, and happened to have the same N7 instructor when they were admitted to the academy. They had known each other since they were eighteen, but despite them having very different combat styles; Davis being an adept in biotics, later specializing as a Vanguard and Mallory operating as an Infiltrator, they had always gotten along famously. They regarded one and other as sisters, and always supported each other when they were down.

The brunet waved her hand dismissively also taking a sip from her own glass. "Just going crazy from being cooped up here for roughly a week. Watching you beat Miller at poker at every match, every day is very entertaining" She added sarcastically.

Davis gave the Lieutenant a frown. "Well unfortunately even though we have been stuck here, we are not on R&R…There's not much else we can do other than read, play cards, watch vids or exercise I'm afraid. I don't quite understand why we are forced to stay here but there is not much I can do till we get a new assignment or an explanation."

Mallory reclined in her seat as her friend spoke, looking frustrated and disgruntled. They weren't even allowed to go out of the military compound for heaven's sake. It was driving her berserk at the unexplained confinement.

"Whatever. Just put the TV on. I need to distract my mind."

"I can help distract you!" Corporal Rovesh elbowed her in the arm.

"Bite me, Rovesh" The man was about to reply but shut his mouth due the look his superior was giving him. Coughing he moved away from the annoyed woman and sat next to the screen, turning it on to the news channel.

The TV screen flickered with some uninteresting images, but everyone decided to sit down and tune out for a bit. Lin did truly wonder why her squad were being held in confinement, there was no know explanation that came up in her mind for her to be treated like this. If she or her squad had done something wrong she would have surely known. The last assignment they had been on was to some garden world to locate and recover some weird looking tech, and was successful in doing so. Truly the answer evaded her.

* * *

SSV Jakarta – 1 hour remaining

Captain Jeridin sat at the desk in her quarters, flicking through a data pad she held in her hand. The cabin was dimly lit by the soft evening sun bearing down through shutters of the observation ports, coating the room in a slight orange glow. Scanning the information and details on the pad to make sure everything was accurate she then placed the object down on the table. After the quick trip to engineering she had decided to file the reports of their last assignment and forward the current state of the cruiser to her superiors, hoping to reduce the ships time spent in dock.

_England is sunny for once_ She noted, turning around to feel its soft warmth falling on upon her face. The view from the port side of the cruiser was stunning. Miles and miles of advanced architecture and skyscrapers lined the horizon, the traffic weaving in and around the buildings in a blur of red and white amidst the evening haze. In the sky above the docks she could make out the silhouettes of Alliance ships departing their bays. _Routine maintenance must be over then_. Musing, her attention was drawn back to her surroundings at the sound of the comms notification identifying an incoming message on emergency channels. She pressed the button to activate the transmission.

"_This is Admiral Hackett to all Alliance ships currently stationed on Earth. Several vessels identified as "Reapers" have just exited the Charon Relay and are now en-route to Earth. Safety measures around Pluto have just been bypassed and obliterated, indicating hostile intentions. Scans indicate more hostiles incoming through the relay. All space capable vessels must report to Ares station to coordinate emergency defensive measures with the First Fleet. I repeat, report to Ares station ASAP." _

She paled recalling the news feeds about a supposed "Reaper" invasion immanent from the disgraced Commander Shepard.

_Pluto's defenses had been bypassed already? Those were some of the most advance warfare technology within the galaxy. Gods, the Commander was right_… She cursed under her breath.

_If that were the case, those ships departing now would only be going on a suicide run_…..She cursed again realizing that even if she wanted to leave, they were unable to.

_Unless_…Looking over the ships comms, she whacked the caller ID for the bridge.

"This is the Captain to all remaining crew members, I have just received news that Pluto's Defence grid has just been destroyed; an imminent invasion is about to occur. I want everyone on their stations immediately. Flight Lieutenant Manson, I want this ship ready for departure in twenty minutes. Specialist Curtis, see about getting to work on hacking those bay clamps and get as many civilians and combatants on-board as you can. I want us free as soon as humanly possible! Get to it!" With that she hurriedly left her desk and walked out of the cabin towards the command deck.

* * *

"_East India" is the name of a dock on the River Thames which runs through London._

_Canary Warf is a large business center located near the River Thames._

_Ek gee nie 'n fok nie- Afrikaans for "I don't give a fuck"._

_Thanks for reading! Story will continue when I have time._


End file.
